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Bret Bradigan, Editor |
July 23rd, 2010 |
July is Literacy Month
Upcoming Programs and Events
July 30th-5th Friday-Downtown Business Appreciation Day
August 6th-District Governor, Deepa Willingham
August 13th-Nick Frankle-Membership Development
August 20th-David Wilk-Life After Brain Surgery
August 27th-Bill Buratto-Green Coast Innovation Zone
In the Beginning.....
Another pleasant day in the neighborhood included a river of Rotarians streaming into Soule Park Clubhouse for the weekly ritual of community serving and collegial hi jinks.
Set-up was conducted by Peter Bowen and Don Reed. Don also manned the mobile mic.
The flag salute was led by Nathan Kaehler.
The invocation was delivered with grace and wisdom by Lerie Bjornstedt.
Visiting Rotarians and Guests
Visiting Rotarians: Phil Adams and Linda Taylor of the Rotary West, along with Larry Thompson of Montecito.
Guests: Dave Brubaker brought his wife Karen and son Matt. Greg Gamble brought the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy's new conservation director, Brian Stark. Other guests included James Casey, Erik Wilde and Brian Blatz. Our exchange student from Germany , Ruby Theobald, was present with her mother, Caroline.
Announcements. . .
Ruby Theobald, returning soon to her native land, gave an account of the cross-country train trip she took with a group of 38 fellow Rotary exchange students. The trip took a month, and included sights and sites from the Pacific Northwest to Chicago , Boston and Washington, D.C.
Mark Cohen said this year's exchange student, from Chile , would be soon arriving for his 9-month visit. Host families, for three months each, were needed for two stints.
Reminder: Seminar on headache management by Dr. Robert Cowan , Soule Park this Saturday, July 31st at 9AM. Rotarians are urged to come and support this community benefit. It will be over by 10:30. Cowan is one of the world experts on headaches, especially migraine.
Mike Weaver said that next week's meeting would convene at 11:45 a.m. at Libbey Park, attendance would be taken, then the club members were to disperse to restaurant of their choices, from a list of Taste of Ojai participants, as a way to thank them for their support.
Taste of Ojai: Catherine Lee, on behalf of committee chair Dave Neville, said the event was scheduled for Sept. 25 on the scenic 10th fairway at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa's golf course. She asked for help in getting the word out, especially to other clubs in the area and to the rest of Ventura and Santa Barbara counties .
Mike Weaver, on behalf of Sunshine Chair Lerie, said that Sanford Drucker was having a tough time, but was always up for visitors. Room 1 at The Gables.
Upcoming Programs and Events
July 30 (5th Friday) Downtown Business Appreciation Day: Bob Daddi, Andi Bloom , and Dana Huffman are coordinating. 12 restaurants that participate in our Taste of Ojai will be visited by groups of 4-5 for lunch or dinner that day.
Aug. 6 - District Governor Deepa Willingham was going to be presenting the program.
Aug. 13 - District membership development chair Nick Frankle will be presenting the program.
The last time Ralph and the boys had a weekend swim party.
Fining: Grant Kemp
Grant Kemp sought, and received, confessions from the following:
• Todd Beaty - son Landon participated in a video production workshop and put together his first commercial.
• Bob Skankey - gratefully acknowledged the response to his call for shampoo and soap for the overseas missions. He singled out Alice Chesley for her particular generosity.
• Suzanne Collingsworth-Smith promoted an event at The Gables.
• Amani Hishmeh confessed that she was heading to Canada for vacation.
• Bill Prather confessed that he had attended his Class of 1966 reunion.
• Mark Cohen confessed to celebrating his 39th birthday. He neglected to mention how many years ago.
Grant stumped the following Rotarians with a series of trivia questions which included such facts as how piggy banks got their name (from a type of clay), or why coins had notches (to prevent shaving off pieces): Jerry Kaplan, Jane McCarthy, Frank Finck, Cathy Lee and John Rennell.
The Origins of the Rotary International's Polio Plus
by Cliff Dochterman
Program: Larry Emrich-Polio Plus Campaign
Mike Weaver introduced the program about Polio Plus, by stating that the issue was personal with him - his grandfather suffered from polio and was left permanently crippled.
Larry Emrich, with Polio Plus, gave a stirring and informative talk about recent advances in eradicating this once-dread disease. But he opened the talk with his experience of he and his brother suffering an attack of polio in 1949, when he was 4. "I woke up and I couldn't walk," he said. The day happened to be his parents' 9th anniversary and both their children were attacked by the polio virus .
In the past year, new cases of polio had declined steeply in the trouble spots of Niger and India, from 300 cases and 200 cases to three and seven, respectively. "We truly are in the last mile of this 25-year effort to eradicate polio," Emrich said. The $900 million spent by Rotary so far has been joined with $100 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which added another $255 million this year.
Emrich sounded off a few facts about polio. Prior to the invention and wide distribution of the Salk-Sabin vaccine in 1955, as many as 1,000 new cases of polio were emerging every day. In 2009, there were 1,604 cases in the entire world. The United States was declared polio-free in 1979, all of Europe was free of the dread virus in 2002. The Rotary's Polio Plus effort began in 1985, and is widely attributed with much of the decline of polio outbreaks.
One of the keys to success has been enlisted the support of local governments and local leaders. "When the local imam is dropping drops into an infant's mouth, that tells everyone that it's OK," he said.
District 5240 is the ninth-largest contributor among district worldwide to the Polio Plus effort. But he urged Rotarians to expand their outreach to include as many people in the community as possible. "We're on constant alert," he said, for fears of outbreaks. The well-regarded documentary, "The Final Inch," chronicles those efforts to end polio, and the ease with which it could re-emerge. He highly recommended that the club screen it.
During the Q.&A. following his presentation, Emrich regarded fears of vaccines causing autism as misguided. "When people refuse to get vaccinated, they are putting my kids at risk," he said.
Final Thoughts
After the ceremonial presentation of the box of Ojai citrus, president Mike gaveled the meeting to a close with these words of Mother Teresa,
"We ourselves may feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean, but the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."
